Prosecutor Balks at Sentencing Absent Polanski

A prosecutor has filed legal papers reiterating his opposition to sentencing fugitive movie director Roman Polanski in absentia in a 32-year-old sex case.

Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said Friday that Polanski was a fugitive and "convicted child rapist" who must not be permitted to tell the court how to proceed in the case.

The 76-year-old Polanski is under house arrest in Switzerland. He pleaded guilty to having unlawful intercourse with a 13-year-old girl and fled in 1978 when a now deceased judge indicated he was about to renege on a plea bargain and issue a harsher sentence.

Polanski recently sent a letter asking a Los Angeles judge to sentence him without making him return to the U.S.